The first photo featured in this listing is Charlie Bears’ stock photo. However, since Charlie Bears are hand-made, even two of the same bear or cat can be slightly different and we firmly believe that you don’t choose a bear, a bear chooses you. For those reasons, we try to photograph every Charlie Bear we receive (the only exception being the Cuddle Cubs and Bear & Me ranges).
If it says "Choose Options" in the top right corner of the listing, it means that individual "in the fur" photos of the cats we have available are provided here on the cat's listing page. Check them out to see which one chooses you. Then to adopt that Kitty Kat, select that # and click Add to Cart. The numbers are updated (removed) automatically whenever a bear or cat is adopted.
If "Choose Options" is not shown, it doesn't necessarily mean that photos aren't available. While some bears may have been camera shy, others may have been photographed but their photos are in the Bears Against MS Photo Gallery (for a link, just click the Photo Gallery icon above), rather than on the bear's website listing page. So you can still pick the face you like best. Photos in the Bears Against MS Photo Gallery are organized in folders by collection type, e.g. Plush, Signature, Bearhouse, Mohair, Minimo, Exclusives (previously known as Secret) and by Year of Release (check this page’s Product Features to determine that). We add the photos as soon as possible after the bears are received but photographing hundreds of bears takes time, so we may have bears whose photos haven’t been uploaded yet. Photos are initially placed in Reserved But Not Yet Allocated sub-folders so that collectors who have pre-ordered the bear can choose theirs. Then once all pre-orders have been satisfied, the photos of bears still available are moved to the general folders.
If choosing your bear from the Photo Gallery, please note the following:
While the #s on the bear's website listing page update automatically, adding, moving or removing a photo in the Bears Against MS Photo Gallery is all done manually. Sometimes we can do it immediately after a bear is assigned to a collector but sometimes it can take us a little time and to be honest, sometimes we simply forget to do so. Therefore, the photo folders may not always be 100% accurate as to availability. So if, after viewing the photos there, you are only interested in adopting this bear if you can get a specific one, PLEASE DO NOT COMPLETE CHECK-OUT AT THIS TIME. Instead, place the bear in your cart and use our Saved Cart feature so that you can easily find the listing later and then also use the Contact Us link (in the left side panel) to ask us to check availability of the specific bear you’d like to adopt. Please note, the Saved Cart feature does not update our stock quantity or remove the bear from availability to other customers. Our inventory only updates when we manually change the quantity or automatically when check out is completed, not when a bear is put in your cart. Once we confirm that the specific bear you want is available, we will put that bear aside for you and let you know that you can proceed to check out.
